Filed under: Geneva Motor Show, Euro, Chevrolet, GM
All future Chevys to be right-hand drive ready
As evidence by the complete transformation of Saturn from a plastic-bodied, college car brand to an imported reflection of the European Opel brand, General Motors is serious about sharing its platforms the world over. To that end, the company has announced that all future Chevrolet products will be built to accomodate left- or right-hand drive. It's reported that it will take five or six years for the process to be completed, since certain vehicles like the Chevy HHR were never developed with right-hand drive in mind and must complete their product cycles before right-hand drive can be engineered into their designs. New and upcoming vehicles, however, will be available soon. GM has already confirmed that the upcoming Camaro, for instance, will be capable of being built in right-hand drive, which gives those markets around the world that drive on the other side of the road some hope for seeing Camaro muscle on sale in their countries.
[Source: Newspress]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JIm 6:59PM (3/07/2007)
When the new'84 Corvette was introduced GM proclaimed this car would be sold all over the world. A Q & A session followed and one of the first questions was something along the lines of, "Well, now that you're going to sell throughout the world, you'll have a right hand drive version, right?" What followed was the deer in the headlights look. Let's hope GM has thought this through a little better this time.
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Hans 8:03PM (3/07/2007)
That's great and all, but could that guy look any more retarded in that squatty car.
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far jr 8:04PM (3/07/2007)
Does this mean "Chevy" cars or Chevy "platforms" will be right hand drive ready?
This may explain the dual arches on the new Malibu interior.
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thisislame 9:26PM (3/07/2007)
a fugly car.
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david 9:51PM (3/07/2007)
it's only fugly to you because you can't afford one. it's either that or gm only wants people with an iq above 20 and you don't qualify.
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Sal 10:36PM (3/07/2007)
David, lose the internet tough guy act. Just because someone thinks this car is fugly, doesn't have anything to do with their iq or their income. Your useless flames serve no purpose here except to ruin autoblog for true automotive fans.
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Jeff Banks 10:56PM (3/07/2007)
In truth, I never really liked the Camaro concept all that much either. The proportions look a bit off to me. I still think the Mustang still reigns in the looks department, even if it can't keep pace in the performance department.
Besides, isn't the Camaro not coming out until 2009 or something? I'm already sick of it and I have to hear about it for another two years. The crazy-ass Volt concept might beat it for all I know. GM needs to hold the reigns on their products a little better.
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supercujo 11:33PM (3/07/2007)
When the Camaro is being developed for production by the Holden division in Australia who has a proven track record with engineering right and left hand drive in the Monaro/Pontiac GTO and Commodore/Pontiac G8.
This also means that Holden can rebody a new Camaro and turn it into the new Monaro with relative ease.
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Deezee 3:24AM (3/08/2007)
Completely agree with #7.
I'm willing to see what the performance/price ratio of the Camaro is tho. But tt'll be tough to beat the Mustang.
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flareak 3:28AM (3/08/2007)
the car is pretty fat. testament to american design
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James 6:44AM (3/08/2007)
I'm not sure why GM are taking so long to get their new cars to market. By the time Americans get the Pontiac G8, some of the freshness of the design will be lost. Something GM can't afford with such a conservative design. Holden released the VE Commodore in August 2006. The US wont get the Pontiac G8(essentially the VE Commodore), until early 2008.
The previous generation Commodore, the VT, was released in Australia in 1997. The 2-door Commodore variant, the Pontiac GTO, reached the USA late 2003, six years later. You guys thought the GTO was dated and bland, and you were right. It wont surprise me to hear similar criticism aimed at the G8, when it finally arrives, at least one year too late.
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MacroEQ 8:26AM (3/08/2007)
It's no surprise to me that American car manufacturers are in crisis when they can't sell their vehicles outside of the U.S (i.e. in RHD countries e.g. UK and Japan).
If Japanese car companies can do it sucessfully in the U.S, then there is no reason why American companies haven't done it after all this time.
If this is "too little too late" time will tell...
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Rick Lyon 8:46AM (3/08/2007)
Wow, the neck cramps one will suffer.
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Justin 9:40AM (3/08/2007)
Sal, Thisislame's comments are pointless as well. This post isn't even about the specific vehicle, just a design trend GM has decided to pursue. He can go call it ugly all the wants on posts about the car itself.
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Phil 4:35PM (3/08/2007)
The time it will take to get this car to market shows again that Bob Lutz isn't good enough for this job.
And since everybody else has left/right hand drive designs, WHO CARES???
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FrankTheCrank 4:31PM (3/09/2007)
Excuse my ignorance...but with drive by wire which IS in production, you could stick the steering wheel in the damn trunk if you wanted to.
What's the story here? Worldwide domination? Yeah, China's got that one covered.
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ragnar 8:07AM (3/12/2007)
The more times I see that design, the less I like it. It really is "fugly". Like the Flintstones would have designed a car.
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